Turbine driven oppositely rotating propellers



2,870,847 TURBINE DRIVEN OPPOSITELY ROTATING PROPELLERS Filed May 9. 1955 V. K. FRY

Jan. 27, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

INVENTOR. 1 5? K56 BY 21 W Amp/YE? V. K. FRY

Jan.'27, 1959 TURBINE DRIVEN OPPOSITELY ROTATING PROPELLERS Filed May 9, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 .L INVENTOR.

Jan. 27, 1959 v. K. FRY 2,870,847

TURBINE DRIVEN OPPOSITELY ROTATING PROPELLERS Filed May 9, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORJ Va? K Evy av l! I United States Patent TURBINE DRIVEN OPPOSITELY ROTATING PROPELLERS This-invention relates to a propeller drive suitable for airplanes, and is herein illustrated in some detail as embodied in an airplane power plant which may include two propellers rotating in opposite directions and driven by jets emanating from the propeller tips and each impinging on a peripheral ring mounted on the other propeller. These rings are so carried on the tips of the propeller blades that they form supports ,on the one hand for power jets, and on the other hand carry what may be called turbines against which the jets project their issuing gases. i

Many attempts have beenmade to utilize jets as direct drives for airplane propellers such as by causing the jet or jets to issue frorna trailing or downstream edge of the propeller blade, or roughly tangentially from the tips of the propeller blade or by guiding through the propeller blades exhaust from a reciprocating internal combustion engine.

One objection to propeller tipjets has arisen from the fact that reaction of theissuing jet was wholly relied on to drive the propeller.

One serious problemin dealing with jet propulsion is the problem of providing ajsufficient volume of air at a suitable pressure to.operate the jet engine effectively.

Another problern hasarisen fromtheheat of the issuing jet which introduced difficulties with the small rings andblades heretofore used in jet engines, and thus necessitated the use of expensive metals and alloysto withstand the heat.

According to the present invention,,t he ringsmounted on the propeller blades may carry devices that serve as air scoops totalce in the air needed and deliver it to the nixing chanihers of the power .plant. Thusf the ,air, except for starting, dsreadily gathered in, leaving ample space in the body of the propeller blades for fuel lines .to carry fuel. to the jets and also carry electric connections forthe spark devices whichfignite thefuel mixture. If desired, these air scoops may providelair for air pressure tanks'to serve as starting devices and. in that case, the air gatheredjby the scoops is fed to the tank by a separate passagethrongh the propeller bladeand Y connections to the bladealong the propeller. shaft to the tank.

The peripheral rings may be so carried by standards embracing bearings on the. feathering axis of the propel- Mopeo ver, theringsmay-be as large asthe peripheral travel of the propeller tips, and then are adequately A 2,870,847 nte JPIP .21. 1 .5

cooled after leaving one jet before meeting the next jet. In one form shown, the scoops take the form ofjshort projecting vanes so set that the vanes of one ring rotate between the rows of the other ring, and the faces of the vanes lie at angles to their planes of rotation so that air gathered at an outer vane is thrust inward by the face of the vane, and further inward the vanes of the next row, and so on, producing a streatiiolf cor npiiessed air.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear. in the accompanying drawings, i Figure l is aperspective view, largely diagrammatical, showing propellers embodying the presentinvention.

Figure 2 is a detail with parts broken away to show i the relationship of .a j et to theturbine elements of la ring.

Figure 3 is adiagram matic view showing the same parts as viewed from the outside.

Figure j4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure l or 3.

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a sectional view of amodification of the device taken in the plane of the propeller between the two sets of blades on the line 6 -6 of Figure L4, and Figure 7 is a section on the line 77 of Figure .6, also showing many associated parts. i i

Figure 8 shows an electric contact ring, greatly enlarged.

In the form shown, a front propeller having blades 10, which carry fuel, and blades 11, whichmay' be solid blades is shown as carrying an outerring 12 supported by brackets 13, which in turn (see Figure 4) are carried by journals 14 radially set onthe ends ofthe propeller blades .10. In a somewhat parallel manner, rear propeller blades 15, carry an inner ring 16 supported .by "brackets 17 rotatable in journals 18 on the ends of the blades (see-Figure 4.). The ring 16 is shown as arching inwardly a t 1 9so that it carries "nearly semicircnlar blades 20 transversely of the arch. These blades 29 are adapted toreceive the issuing jet from the nozzle 21 of a mixing chamber 22, set at an angle in a radial fplane onthe outer ring 12 The [mixing chamber 22 is shown as receiving fuel from a fuel line 23 connected tolthe blade lfl and entering through the journal14 on the axis offeathering at 24, the terminus of this fuel linewhich runs through the central body of blade .10.

The outer ring 12 rotates in one direction whereas the inner ring ,16 rotates in vthe opposite direction and ball ,hearings are shown as provided to preserve the rings in alignment so that thenozzle21 is properly adjusted with .respecnto the blades 2!), and also to .preserve the alignment of a second nozzle 25 in another radial plane with reference to the turbine blades 26 carried hy the ring 12.

These ball,bearings are shown near opposite ends of the.rings 12 and 16 as including balls 27 and ball races 28, diagrammatically shown near each edge of the rings.

the funnel-shaped facing parts of ring-12 and 16, .and

seen at the left inFigureA. ,The vanes 32 and-33am so set that as the rings are carried around by the revolving propellers, the blades suck in and compress air atvthe flares 13 4 to the leftlof the blades 32 and 33 and deliver it-to a chamber 35 formed by an archedsection 36 in the ring 16 and the arched section 37 in the ring12. The compressed air,is shown as carried to the mixing chamber 22 by a pipe-SS which may be branched at 39 to carry air by a pipe 40 to an interior passage 41 of the blade 10. Air for the mixing chamber 29 is shown as carried by a pipe 42 from the lower arch sectlon 36 to the mixing chamber 29, and the pipe 42 may be provided with a branch 43 carrying air to a passage 44 in the blade 15.

The blade is shown provided with a fuel line 45 passing through the journal 18 and connected to a pipe 46 which delivers the fuel to the mixing chamber 29.

The ring 16 is shown as provided with fins 47 for the purpose of radiating heat from the arched portion 31, and correspondingly, the ring 12 is shown as provided with fins 48 to radiate heat generated from the combustion between the vanes 20.

To provide exhaust orifices, the arched portion 31 of the inner ring 16 is provided on one side with openings 49 Which open into a peripheral exhaust element 50 (see Figure '5), and second exhaust orifices 51 are provided in the ring to carry off exhaust from the exhaust element 50, through slanted openings 53 in the ring 12 shown as an arch or blister 52 on the ring 12. The long row of slanted openings 53 into the blister 52 insure that the exhaust gases escape along a substantial fraction of the travel of each of the rings. The slant of the openings 53 adds to the suction on the exhaust.

In Figure 6, the ring 16 is shown broken away to show a turbine blade 26 of the adjacent ring setup.

As seen in Figure 2, the turbine partitions and 26 in the two rings slope in opposite directions, thus giving pockets into which the nozzles 21 and deliver their oppositely issuing jets.

The air scoop mechanism, including the vanes 32 and 33, compresses air not only for the combustion chambers 22 and 29, but also may be caused. to compress air which is stored in a tank such as the tank 55 (see Figure 7), and for this purpose there are shown as provided check valves 56 and 57 between the air lines 40 and the chamber 35, and the air line 42 and the chamber respectively. These check valves 56 and 57 permit compressed air from the scoop 32, 33 to be forced into combustion chambers 22 and 29, and also permit the compressed air to be forced into air lines and 43, but prevent air coming from the air tank from escaping backward through the air scoop 32, 33. When the air scoop 32, 33 is forcing air into combustion chambers 22 and 29, any excess pressure flows through the air lines 41 and 44 which extend down through the propeller blades and terminate in air conduits such as at conduit 58.

The air connections to the air tank 55 are illustrated for the propeller hubs in Figure 7, in which the air lines 58 lead to a conduit 59 in the hub member 60, and the conduit 59 runs transversely of the hub 60 and turns outwardly at 61 so as to face an inner peripheral channel 62 in a ring 63 which carries the air to a fixed air conduit 64, leading into 58.

It will be noted that the vanes 33, as seen in Figure 4, rise from the inner ring 16 and are set apart so that the vanes 32 rising from the outer ring may travel between the rows of vanes '33. Moreover, as seen in Figure 3, the vanes 32 are set in spaced rows, and the vanes 33 are also set in spaced rows so that in sliding the ring 16 within the ring 12, the rows of vanes 33 will clear the rows of vanes 32. The spaces between the rows of vanes provide channels for the currents of air carried inward between the air scoop of which they form a part.

To enable the jets 21 and 25 to be set close to the path of the turbine blades 20 and 26, the blades 20 are cut away at their upper edges, as seen in Figure 4, at the center as at 65, and the turbine blades 26 are similarly cut away at their periphery at a point 66 near the jet 25, and as seen in Figure 2, the blades 20 and 26 are set at an angle to the radius of the ring so that each set of blades tends to catch the gases issued from its jet most effectively.

As shown in Figure l, the ring-carried devices are set at intervals around each ring so that each ring is substantially balanced as it revolves and thus avoids creating vibration or distortion of the ring. In the form shown in Figure l, the jets on any one ring are set at the tips of opposing propeller blades. Thus it comes about that the rings 12 and 16 may be assembled by sliding the ring 16 axially into the ring 12, and then the ball bearings 27 hold the rings in place on each other to enable the ring 16 to be slid within the ring 12, and providethe ball bearings. Each ball bearing is shown as including a pair of races coming together at the peak and held together at that peak preferably separably by being bolted together by bolts 70 holding together the two races 71 and 72. The ball bearings thus split are preferably, as shown, the races carried on the inner ring 16.

To further provide for the sliding of the ring 16 within the ring 12, the ring 16 is shown as also split at its arch 31 and bolted together by bolts 73 which unite wings 74 and 75. With this construction the ring 16 can be slid inwardly from the left to right as viewed in Figure 5 while assembling the ball bearing adjacent the air scoop 32, and then the right hand section 76 of the arch 31 slid into place, bolted by the bolts 73, and

then the adjacent ball bearing may be assembled by bringing together the races 71 and bolting them by the bolts 70, so as to close in the race 71 upon the balls 27. This enables the ball spacers 78 to be inserted at the same time that the balls are inserted. The fuel which oil through a cross conduit 86 to the fuel line 45 and thus the fuel reaches the nozzle 25 carried by that blade. In the same way, the fuel pump through a connecting pipe 87 draws oil through a short conduit 88 to a ring 89 encircling the shaft 90 of the front propeller 10, and draws the oil into an opening 91 which turns to convey the oil through a long pipe 92 to the fuel line 23 by way of conduit 93 (see Fig. 7) of the front propeller blade 10.

The fuel pump 81 is shown as driven by a spur gear 94 which meshes with a spur gear 95 encircling the shaft 90 so that when the propeller shaft turns, it operates the pump 81.

For simplicity the electric wires 96 and 97 which ignite the fuel mixture at the jets are shown as terminating in a contact ring 98 carried by and also interrupted by insulation 99 which is shown as forming a ring on the annular face 100 of hub 84. The usual cut-out switch is not shown to avoid confusing the details of the drawing.

Current is provided for the contacts of the wires 96 and 97 through the conducting arcs 98 by a magneto 101 driven by a spur gear 102 meshing with the spur gear 95 and connected by wires 103 and 104 to brushes 106 and 107. The magneto 101 also supplies current for the conductors 108 and 109 which through brushes 110 and 111 convey the current to a ring 112 like the ring 99 but attached to the hub of the front propeller 10 and thus provide current for the conductors 113 and 114 carried on the blades of the propeller 10 and provide a spark for the spark plug at the nozzle 21.

For simplicity in description, other details may be described as identical in the fuel lines for the blades of the propellers 15 and 10.

The exhaust gases, after they have impelled the respective propeller blades 20 and 26 are shown as described above passing through exhaust members 50 and '52, the exhaust is shown as reaching the arcuate trumpet shaped discharge members 116, discharging the exhaust as a trailing exhaust outside the ring 12.

The scoop device 32, 33 of Figure 3 may sometimes he supplemented by, or even replaced by the scoops shown diagrammatically in Figure .6 as ,areuate' sub.- stantially sized pipes 117 with open ends 11!? adapted :to gather in the air that they cut into and ,convey that air through a pipe 119 each to its own mixing chamber.

In order to enable stored up air in the air tank 55 start the device, provision is made through a valved pipe 121 adapted to deliver any amount'of fuel oil under.

pump pressure to .the compressed air in :the tank 55 and deliver thatthrough the connections described ,above to the jets 21 and 25, and be held :to go to them by the check valves described above, and .other check valves if desired, so that the oil-:laden air from the tank 55 comes out under pressure from the two jets 21 and 25 and starts the propellers turning by impinging on the turbine blades of the respective propeller blades 10 and 15.

. one set of said propeller blades, aset of turbine blades It has been found necessary to distort sizes of parts,

such as the mixing chambers 22 and 29, and the ball bearings 27 and the passages in thepropeller blades and other parts.

In the interest of ,clearness all thermal insulation has been omitted especially around the mixing chambers 22 and 29.

Also the various parts of Figure 6 were distorted in size in order to enable abroad grasp of the parts. The same is true to a less degree of other figures.

What is claimed is:

1. In a power plant, a pair of oppositely rotating propellers, each having a set of blades, a central shaft about which both propellers rotate, a first ring concentric with the propellers, supports for said first ring carried by one set of said propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said first ring, a delivery nozzle carried by said first ring and delivering in a radial plane, a second ring concentric with the first ring and overlapping the first ring, supports for said second ring carried by the other set of propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said second ring against which said nozzle is adapted to deliver a driving jet, a nozzle carried by the second ring adapted to deliver in a radial plane a driving jet against the first ring turbine blades, and conveying devices adapted to deliver fuel and air to said nozzles.

2. In a power plant, a pair of oppositely rotating propellers, each having a set of blades, a central shaft about which both propellers rotate, a first ring concentric with the propellers, supports for said first ring carried by one set of said propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said first ring, a delivery nozzle carried by said first ring and delivering in a radial plane, a second ring concentric with the first ring and overlapping the first ring, supports for said second ring carried by the other set of propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said second ring against which said nozzle is adapted to deliver a driving jet, a nozzle carried by the second ring adapted to deliver in a radial plane a driving jet against the first ring turbine blades, conveying devices adapted to deliver fuel and air to said nozzles, overlapping axial extensions of said rings, and air gathering blades carried on said extensions and delivering air to said conveying devices for said nozzles.

3. In a power plant, a pair of oppositely rotating propellers, each having a set of blades, a central shaft about which both propellers rotate, a first ring concentric with the propellers, supports for said first ring carried by one set of said propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said first ring, a delivery nozzle carried by said first ring and delivering in a radial plane, a second ring concentric with the first ring and overlapping the first ring, supports for said second ring carried by the other set of propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said second ring against which said nozzle is adapted to deliver a driving jet, a nozzle carried by the second ring adapted to deliver in a radial plane a driving carried by said first ring, a delivery nozzle carried by said first ring and delivering. in a radial ,plane, a second ring concentric with the first ring and overlapping the first ring, supports for said second ring; carried by the other set of propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said second ring against which said :nozzleis adapted to deliver a driving jet, a nozzle carried by the second ring adapted to deliver in aradial. plane a driving jet against the first ring turbine blades, conveying devices adapted to deliver fuel andair to said nozzles, certain delivery pipes between the blade conduits and the devices gconveying fuel to nozzles.

5. In a power plant, a pair of oppositely rotating propellers, each having a set of blades, a central shaft about which both propellers rotate, a first ring concentric with the propellers, supports for said first ring carried by one set of said propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said first ring, a delivery nozzle carried by said first ring and delivering in a radial plane, a second ring concentric with the first ring and overlapping the first ring, supports for said second ring carried by the other set of propeller blades, a set of turbine blades carried by said second ring against which said nozzle is adapted to deliver a driving jet, a nozzle carried by the second ring adapted to deliver in a radial plane a driving jet against the first ring turbine blades, conveying devices adapted to deliver fuel and air to said nozzles, and a combustion chamber carried by each ring and forming part of the conveying devices delivering air and fuel.

6. In a power plant, a pair of oppositely rotating propellers, each having a set of blades, including blades with conduits, a central shaft about which both propellers rotate, an outer ring concentric with the propellers, supports for said outer ring carried by one set of the propeller blades, an inner ring concentric with the propellers, supports for the inner ring carried by the other set of the propeller blades, outside turbine blades carried by the inner ring, inside turbine blades carried by the outer ring, a delivery nozzle directed radially inward toward the outside turbine blades and carried by the outer ring, a delivery nozzle directed radially outward towards the inside turbine blades and carried by the inner ring, and means for supplying fuel to said nozzles through said conduits.

7. In a power plant, a pair of oppositely rotating propellers, each having a set of blades, including blades with conduits, a central shaft about which both propellers rotate, an outer ring concentric with the propellers, supports for said outer ring carried by one set of the propeller blades, an inner ring concentric with the propellers, supports for the inner ring carried by the other set of the propeller blades, outside turbine blades carried by the inner ring, inside turbine blades carried by the outer ring, a delivery nozzle directed radially inward toward the outside turbine blades and carried by the outer ring, a delivery nozzle directed radially outward towards the inside turbine blades and carried by the inner ring, means for supplying fuel to said nozzles through said conduits, ball-bearing races on each ring in the vicinity of each line of supports, and ball running in said races and holding the rings aligned,

8.In a power plant,;a pair of oppositely rotating propellers, each having a set'of blades, including blades .with conduits, a central shaft about which both propel lers rotate, an outer ring concentric with the propellers, supports'for said outer ring carried by one set of the propeller blades, an inner ring concentric with the propellers, supports for the inner ring carried by the other set 'of the propeller blades, outside turbine blades carried by the inner ring, inside turbine blades carried by the outer ring, a delivery nozzle directed radially in ward toward the outside turbine blades and carried by the outer ring, a delivery nozzle directed radially outward towards the inside turbine blades and carried by the inner ring, means for supplying fuel to said nozzles through said conduits, overlapping extensions of said r-ings, air gathering blades carried on said extensions,

and connections for delivering air gathered by said blades to said nozzles.

9. In apower plant, a pair of oppositely rotating propellers, each having a set of blades, including blades with conduits, a central shaft about which both propellers rotate, an outer ring concentric with the propellers, supports for said outer ring carried by one set of the propeller blades, an inner ring concentric with the pro ,pellers, supports for the inner ring carried by the other '8 set 'of the propeller blades, outside turbine blades car:- ried' by the inner ring, inside turbine blades carried by theouter ring, a delivery nozzle directed radially ins ward toward the'outside turbine blades and carried by the outer ring,a delivery nozzle directed radially outward toward the-inside turbine bladesand carried by .the inner ring, means forsupplying fuel to said nozzles through said' conduits, overlapping extensions of said rings, air gathering blades carried on said extensions, connections for delivering air gathered by said blades 1 to said nozzles, means supplying air through some of said conduits, a combustion chamber for each nozzle,

Pitcairn Apr. 28, 1942 2,330,056 Howard Sept. 21, 1943 2,425,904 Vernon Aug. 19, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 326,896 France Apr; 12, 1902 

